How did Jeremy Forestt get 5 and a half years and Stuart Hall only a year??

[Footsoldier]

Stuart hall got a total of 114 months for 18 offences (different sentences for each count), but the sentence for each is being served concurrently (at the same time), with longest for any one offence being 15months, none of them being for having sex with a child (it was mostly over the clothes fondling), with the last offence being 25 years ago, no evidence of offence since then when he claimed he became celibate. http://www.courtnewsuk.co.uk/?news_id=33371


Forestt got a total of 22 years (4.5 years for each) for five counts of sex offences to be served concurrently, plus one year for one count of abduction to be served consecutively after the others). His offences were considered worse because he is a teacher, in a position of authority over her, having occurred more recently with no reason to believe he would not re-offend if he were allowed to remain free. http://www.courtnewsuk.co.uk/newsgallery/?news_id=33440

So Hall wasn't in the position of trust then? Parents trusted the vile man so he abused their trust did he not?

 

[Acker79]

So Hall wasn't in the position of trust then? Parents trusted the vile man so he abused their trust did he not?

It's not my argument. I'm just paraphrasing/summarising what the judges said in their summaries, which is what the links are to.

 

[Pat McCrotch]

If I went to the police with evidence someone punched me in the face 20 years ago, would they be prosecuted?

 

[seagullsovergrimsby]

Did he get a softer sentence because he couldn't get a stiffy

 

[clapham_gull]

Probably controversially, sounds about right in both cases.

The Judge in the Hall case massively restricted by the fact the crimes took place under different sentencing regimes. Does he deserve more ? Yep... Hopefully they can squeeze a bit more, but there is only so far they can take it.

Have no sympathy for the teacher. He targeted a young girl at a vulnerable stage of her life in modern times. If nothing else he has made her the subject of the worlds media and you really don't need that at her age.

We've all been at school at that age. Girls get a crush on a teacher, as do boys.

Something happened at my school between a girl and a teacher. There was no evidence of anything physical going on, but what I do know is that it did them nothing else but harm. The teacher was probably involved in a relationship with another teacher as well.

All legal at the time I must add. The girl over age, but these things are bad enough at work let along school.

No sympathy I'm afraid. None at all.

If he honestly loved her (and we can't forget she was underage, albeit nearly not) he should have resigned. But of course, the position of power would have been removed from the relationship.

 

[Brovion]

So if someone had committed murder in say 1965 but through modern techniques in DNA they were only traced and convicted now, would they be hanged because that was the punishment when the crime was committed?

Very good question. He (Forrest) was obviously in the wrong and deserved to be punished, but personally I think the sentence is excessive. And taking him to court in handcuffs! Did they think he was going to suddenly jump over a wall and ravish the nearest ten year old?

 

[TSB]

So if someone had committed murder in say 1965 but through modern techniques in DNA they were only traced and convicted now, would they be hanged because that was the punishment when the crime was committed?

You couldn't be hanged for murder in 1965

 

[phoenix]

Thanks for the info Acker, a very interesting read.

 

[dougdeep]

You couldn't be hanged for murder in 1965

Picky. The last year in which people were hanged for murder in England was 1964.

 

[Acker79]

You couldn't be hanged for murder in 1965

Murder (Abolition of Death Penalty) Act 1965 the bill commenced 9th November 1965 (initially just covered the next 5 years, but made permanent before the bill expired) so for part of it, you could. But after 1957, the type of murder that resulted in capital punishment was restricted.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_punishment_in_the_United_Kingdom

 

[Acker79]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_punishment_in_the_United_Kingdom

Something in that link that amused me:

The public had by then expressed great dissatisfaction with the verdict in the case of Timothy Evans, who was tried and hanged in 1950 for murdering his baby daughter. It later transpired in 1953 that John Christie had strangled at least six women in the same house; he also confessed to killing Timothy's wife. If the jury in Evans's trial had known this, Evans would probably not have been found guilty​

If they knew someone else had done all that murdering they "probably" wouldn't have found Evans guilty?! What sort of jury, knowing that a man is innocent, would find him guilty?

 

[fork me]

Stuart Hall went with a 9 year old plus others so why is Jeremy Forestt's sentence 5 times as big as Stuart Hall ??

Maybe it was the fact the the worst crime Stuart Hall was convicted of was touching a girl's breast, whereas Forrest admitted having sex with an underage girl loads of times.

 

[Justice]

Both sick vile individuals and should be hanged

 

[Acker79]

Maybe it was the fact the the worst crime Stuart Hall was convicted of was touching a girl's breast, whereas Forrest admitted having sex with an underage girl loads of times.

No, it wasn't. http://www.courtnewsuk.co.uk/?news_id=33371

 

[fork me]

No, it wasn't. http://www.courtnewsuk.co.uk/?news_id=33371

Ouch, count 6 was much more serious. I hadn't seen that.

Still not as serious as having full sex several times though, which is what Forrest finally admitted to.

 

[Brovion]

Interesting that the girl has now come out and said she'll wait for him. Her dad has said she'll walk her down the aisle but her mum has said she's now dead to me. I shall be interested to see how this goes in the next few years.

(Note I got all this from the papers so none of it may be true)

 

[BensGrandad]

I think that the Sunday paper comments along with the girl and her father are lining this up for an appeal against the severity of the sentence

 

[martyn20]

I think that the Sunday paper comments along with the girl and her father are lining this up for an appeal against the severity of the sentence

I wonder if when the stories were written the father and girl knew about the other younger girl (13) he had tried to groom before the 'love affair' started.

 

[Acker79]

My thought was that the father was just supporting h's daughter, with the thought being if she is still in love with him in five years, after he has been in prison and when he comes out she still wants to marry him and he still wants to marry her, then perhaps it's not as sinister a relationship as it currently seems, and so he'll support her, but likely deep down he expects his daughter will meet someone new and outgrow her former teacher, and at the end of it she will appreciate her dad standing by her.

 

[Green Cross Code Man]

My thought was that the father was just supporting h's daughter, with the thought being if she is still in love with him in five years, after he has been in prison and when he comes out she still wants to marry him and he still wants to marry her, then perhaps it's not as sinister a relationship as it currently seems, and so he'll support her, but likely deep down he expects his daughter will meet someone new and outgrow her former teacher, and at the end of it she will appreciate her dad standing by her.

Knowing the family a little, I would imagine that your reasoning is sound.